Carnival Pride Cruise Review by lorilew: Wild Ride on the Pride

Carnival Pride

Overall Member Rating

Wild Ride on the Pride

Sail Date:
January 2011
Destination:
Bahamas
Embarkation:
Baltimore

Embarkation: arrived to the port according to Carnival's instructions of 2-3:30p, short line to pay for parking while in the car, after that, parked quickly. Estimated time from entrance of port terminal until on ship: 20 mins maybe, if that. Everything moved along smoothly and quickly!

Headed up to the Lido deck for late lunch, food was good and we sat with our group of 8, having a few drinks and sharing in the our excitement. Our group was a range of ages 17 thru 74.

After lunch we went to find our rooms which were ready and waiting for us along with our room steward Aurovill (sp). Friendly and accommodating all week. Seemed to come out of nowhere when mom was by herself and cheerfully opened the cabin door for her, she had her key but struggled with the heaviness.

Dinners in the main dining room were awesome and tasty. We had anytime dining and asked for a table for 8 every night...never had to wait, we dined around 6p. We prefer later but Mom likes More
earlier. Hubby and kids hit the Lido deck every night for late night burgers and pizza later on b/c they got hungry again. Not a big deal...they were happy with it.

Mermaid grill was good, you just have to know what to go after. I will say that breakfast got boring with the same things every day. As far as food goes, that is my only complaint. Other than that, you can always find something. Lunch in the main dining room was always a good option and much less chaotic! We varied from day to day, depending on our schedule of things we wanted to do.

Monday night we had 67mph winds and the ship was rocking and bumping. Mom got a bit seasick but a quick dose of Dramamine fixed her up. The rest of us were fine. Hubby and I like the rocking...feels like you're being rocked to sleep...yes, we are weird. I'm glad we don't get sick.

On the ship: Davids Steakhouse...delicious! Shows in Taj Mahal, very entertaining! (for those who complain, you should try dancing on a rocking ship!) Comedy shows were fun and our whole family enjoyed the Karaoke every night. Some people can sing! Those who can't are just pure entertainment...our teenagers and my hubby are no exception! We enjoyed almost every trivia game, although while playing the people walking by shouting out answers is rude and annoying. The hot tubs were overcrowded due to the colder weather and mostly by kids. It started warming up Tuesday and was good thru Friday. Although we came back to about 20 degree temps today!

debarkation: we did self assist. Wasn't too bad on the Pride. We did this before on the Legend and we were able to wait in our rooms. ON the Pride, you have to be out of your room by 9:30a and we didn't get called until 11a. They provided the Taj Mahal with a movie for your wait. But after we were called we were off the ship and in the parking lot in 10 mins, very smooth!

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Cabin review: 8J5108 Extended Balcony

We had rooms 5106, 5108 and 5110. Awesome set up. Mom and sister in 5110, me and hubby in 5108 and two teenage boys in 5106. Friends were in 5238, they booked separately. We asked for the balcony doors to be opened between 5108 and 5110, no problem. 5106 was a connecting cabin to 5108 and an inside room. My only real complaint was that although the balcony was nice and roomy because of the location, it had peeling paint and rust spots. Not attractive at all but didn't prevent me from sitting out there during and reading on our warmer days. I was concerned that the front of the ship would be rockier than our previous mid ship room, not a problem. The whole ship was rocking and we don't get sea sick. If you do, you may want to avoid these rooms,especially cruising during winter months which tend to be rougher seas.

Port and Shore Excursions

Freeport: It was WINDY, cloudy and not as warm...low 70's. We were supposed to go snorkeling at Dead Man's Reef but not warm enough. It wound up raining too. We took a shuttle to the shops, casino and beach. $10 round trip pp. We shopped, walked on the beach and headed back. Nothing spectacular but Carnival is not in charge of weather!

Nassau: Weather was an awesome 85 degrees and we had pre booked the party boat thru Best on Bahamas. ON their website it indicated that there is not a party boat on Thursdays. I called to inquire and was assured that in January there will be one on Thursdays. Well, I put down a deposit for 6 and the boat never showed. Called the number provided, which happened to be for the boats tour guide...he said: no party boat on Thursdays. Should be interesting getting that deposit back. I am very glad we did not pay in full. There are lots of different boats right at the pier which you can get onto. We found one $40pp for snorkeling and rum punch (after snorkeling). Was super fun, sorry cant remember the name of it but it was the only catamaran I saw and it had clear kayaks on the back in racks. We paid for snorkeling and we had a blast. It was about a 3hr trip. We then made our way back to the Pride, changed and headed to Senor Frogs...had a blast there.

Port Canaveral: we took the bus shuttle to Cocoa Beach, walked around, sat on the beach for a few minutes. It was pretty windy and got chilly as the afternoon passed. Was good to just get off the ship after being on it from Sun thru Wed. The trips to Disney and other theme parks seemed to be a waste of money b/c there is not enough time to really see what you're paying for. Our friends did the Airboat ride booked thru Carnival. They enjoyed it. We've done it before when visiting Florida and it was about $80pp, when we payed $15...no thanks. It felt good just to walk around in shorts and short sleeves, we were fine with that.